[2]'"
A number of others of the jury of penniless poets having related their
stories, at last it is agreed that if the Foole of all Fooles cannot be
found among those before named, one of themselves must be the fool, for
there cannot be a verier fool than a poet, "for poets have good wits,
but cannot use them, great store of money, but cannot keep it," etc.
* * * * *
It is doubtful what the name "Jack of Dover" imports, as that of the
imaginary inquirer after fools. The author of the Cook's Tale of
Gamelyn--which is generally considered as a spurious "Canterbury" tale--
represents, in the prologue, mine host of the Tabard as saying to Roger
the Cook:
"Full many a pastie hast thou lettin blode;
And many a jack of Dovyr hast thou sold,
That hath ben twice hot and twice cold."
Dr. Brewer says--apparently on the strength of these lines--that a "Jack
of Dover" is a fish that has been cooked a second time. But it may have
been a name of a particular kind of fish caught in the waters off Dover.
If, however, a "Jack of Dover" is a twice-cooked fish, the title of the
jest-book is not inappropriate, since all the stories it comprises are
at least "twice-told."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] To "dine with Duke Humphry" meant not to dine at all. See Brewer's
_Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_ for the origin of the expression.
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